Analysis of Israeli Public Sentiment

Again, there’s one word Israelis have been saying a lot over the past three years,

and no one notices how heavy it is.

Again. Another emergency call-up order. Again, it’s been two months I haven’t spent time with

the kids. Again, the business is at a standstill, and I’m paying rent for it.

Again, my wife is running the household alone. Again, it’s the end of the month and we’re counting

what’s left in the account. Another funeral, another siren, another trip to the safe room.

And I want to clarify something here, because it’s important.

This isn’t fatigue. You fix fatigue with sleep.

This nation knows how to work hard and how to fight, and it has proven that

again and again. What we have here is something else. What we have here is being fed up.

And you don’t fix being fed up with sleep, because it doesn’t come

from effort. It comes from the fact that effort has no end. A person

can bear an unimaginably heavy burden if they know where it’s all headed.

What breaks them is carrying that burden without knowing when it will end or whether

it will end. And that’s exactly what’s happening here. We’re fighting, but

every day repeats itself. We work, and there’s nothing left at the end of the month.

They obey, but the law stops precisely at those who don't

obey. They aren't bound by the law. And now, the most distorted thing

in this story is that the one who pays the most is the one who does everything right.

Whoever enlists, whoever works, whoever reports everything, whoever pays to

the last shekel, whoever doesn't look for loopholes or

shortcuts. They're the ones carrying everything on their backs.

Want one example? A young couple in Israel, both of whom work,

both pay taxes and contribute to pensions, fund, through their taxes,

the pension of someone who never saved for it. They call it a

defined-benefit pension. It's a pension five times higher than the

couple's combined income. This isn't a story. This is simply how it

works, and that person doesn't complain. They get up in the morning

and keep going, but inside, something has died. And I want to tell

you something about that feeling. Disgust isn't weakness.

Disgust isn't despair. Despair is when you stop believing things can be

different. Disgust is when you stop agreeing. And so,

when we say, "We've had enough," it's not a statement of

A complaint. This is a statement of resolve. This nation does not

ask for a prize for what it has given. It does not ask to be told

thank you. It asks for its effort to have an outcome.

It asks for a horizon. It asks to know that its children

will not do the exact same thing in another 20 years, in the same place, with

the same feeling. We are not asking more of you, you have given enough.

We are asking to tell you that what you gave can have an outcome.

You deserve to win, and it is time to win. And how do we get out

of this? Not with another promise. By changing who has the upper hand over whom.

In security, we need an army with one goal:

to win. We need a moral code that says the lives of our soldiers

come before the lives of the enemy. We need a moral code that states,

“If someone comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first.” At six in the morning, get up

early and kill your enemy. We need a clearly defined

enemy. Hamas is not the enemy. Gaza is the enemy.

The regime in Iran is not the enemy. Iran is the enemy, and even

in the north, Hezbollah is not the enemy. Lebanon is the enemy.

We need a clearly defined enemy, a state enemy that can be defeated.

We need to put an end, and we will put an end to deals

that teach this enemy that kidnappings work.

In governance, we need to start treating protection racketeering as we treat

terrorism, not as just another criminal offense. A law-abiding citizen

who is armed is a partner in security, not a problem.

In the economy, a flat tax. Dismantling the Israel Land

Authority, land returned to citizens. Every one

of these things is explicitly written in our platform.

Again, not as a slogan, but as an operating mechanism,

and that is the difference between what they sold you and what we are saying here.

We are not promising you victory. We are showing

you the way to it. Zehut. Because it's time

to win.